Sunday, June 13, 2010

Not Your Namby-Pamby Local Food Week: OK Local Food Week 2010 Starts Today

Porter Peaches

Confession: I have sort of a thing for good food. Surprise!

Truth is, I think about it pretty much all the time - how I could make it, how I could eat it, what I could write about it, how it greases the wheels of society.

Good thing Local Food Week 2010 has rolled around.

I'm passionate about the local food movement. Yeah, it's a little trendy, and yeah, the term "localvore" needs to take a long walk off a short pier, but I've always been a fan of food grown by people I know. My grandmother used to grow rows and rows of onions and a huge raised bed of strawberries, and my grandfather and I spent one glorious day late one summer frying apple pies made with apples we picked from the trees out back.

My dad used to grow these huge ears of sweet corn, and we'd eat them all summer long. I have a grandmother who refuses to eat store-bought fresh tomatoes, and we all talk about how a homegrown strawberry just doesn't compare to whatever those red orbs in the produce section of the supermarket are supposed to be.

See, all the local food movement is doing is helping to make our old ways hip again. Be thee not afraid.



This week is a great time to jump on grandma's old bandwagon, since it's the state's second annual Local Foods Week. Everyone from farmers to restaurateurs will celebrate the rich diversity of locally produced foods available in early summer and encourage the support of local farmers throughout the season, all week long. It all gets started today.

The calendar of events for the week is bursting, including a block party and community potluck at Blue Jackalope this very evening; a raw food picnic, also this very evening; a showing of the film Dirt out at Newsome Community Farm in north Tulsa; cooking demonstrations and local farmers' markets; a showing of the film Fresh at the Bartlesville Farmers' Market; a local food art show; the second annual Salsafest in downtown Tulsa; a scavenger hunt; farm tours; and, if you can believe it, more.

Click here for more Local Food Week highlights and to get the complete schedule of events.

Oklahomans are encouraged to join in the celebration by supporting farmers in their areas. You can also do your part for Local Food Week by tacking this poster to any free bulletin board space you see at your local cafe, coffeeshop or grocery store. Just for fun, print out a few menus of ideas on how to indulge in local food to pass out to hungry friends and family.

There's good eatin' ahead, friends. Just don't hog it all for yourselves.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever tasted anything as good as your dad's corn?

Here are some reasons why maybe you never will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/dining/sweet-corn-that-s-best-with-a-grain-of-salt.html

For some other reasons, check out "Remembrance of Things Past", which is worth reading anyway.

Brian S.

Frances said...

You should give Tulsa local food delivery services a try if you wish to eat farm fresh food.

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